Doctor Who_ Peacemaker - James Swallow [4]
‘What happens there?’
‘It’s like a safari park, except you get to chase no-talent android celebrities around instead of wild animals.’
Martha made a face. ‘Things haven’t changed much in 400 years, then.’
He went on. ‘This place is the movie capital of the Milky Way, and it’s got the best cinema anywhere, anywhen. . . ’
She nodded, taking it all in. ‘When you said we could go to the movies, I had thought, y’know, we’d stop off at my local multiplex or something. . . ’ Martha dodged to one side, to allow a pack of cheetah-girls in opulent holographic dresses to pass them.
The Doctor turned to face her, walking backwards. ‘Well, we could.
But this place has really smart seats.’ He moved seamlessly, never once bumping into anybody despite the fact he wasn’t looking where he was going. ‘And I mean really smart, as in intelligent. They mould to all your comfort zones, but not so much that you doze off during the good bits. And there’s no sticky floors or people talking during the film. Free popcorn as well.’
‘Choc ices?’
He nodded. ‘Oh yeah. All the trimmings.’
Martha gave him a sly smile. ‘Ooh, cosy. It’s almost like a date.’
For a second, the Doctor was slightly wrong-footed. ‘No, not really.
Just, uh, two mates, going to see a flick. . . ’ He cleared his throat and pointed in the direction of a low dome made of hexagons a short distance away, changing the subject. ‘They copied the design from a 8
place on Earth, the Cinerama on Sunset Boulevard.’ He waved at the roof. ‘I’ve had a soft spot for it for ages. Defeated an incursion of Geomatide Macros there back in the 1970s. Nasty things, they used the angles of the ceiling tiles as a mathematical hyperspace vector generator. . . ’ He trailed off and then clapped his hands. ‘Right! What do you want to see? They’ve got everything. Pirates of the Caribbean VI? The Starship Brilliant Story? Casablanca? ’
She sighed. ‘I’m in the mood for a Western.’ The words popped out of her mouth without her thinking about it. ‘I haven’t seen one in ages.’ And suddenly, Martha felt a little bit sad. ‘When we were kids, me and Leo and Tish, we’d watch a cowboy film every Sunday afternoon. There was always one on, just before lunchtime. Mum would be cooking a joint and making these great roast potatoes, and we could smell it from the living room. We’d all get together, the three of us and Mum and Dad, and eat during the last half.’ She sighed.
‘Funny. It seems like that was a very long time ago. A very long way away.’ Martha thought of her family and if felt like there was a vast, yawning distance between her and them. A pang of homesickness tightened in her chest, and her eyes drifted up to the alien sky again.
‘A Western it is, then,’ said the Doctor gently. ‘ Rio Bravo. A Fistful of Dollars. Dances With Wolves. . . ’ He fell silent as they approached the box office. The kiosk was dark and lifeless. ‘Hang on. This doesn’t look right.’ He fished in his pocket and aimed his sonic screwdriver at the booth. The slender device buzzed, and the door hissed open.
He glanced inside and gave a pained groan, returning with a moment later with a sheet of electronic paper in his hand.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Cinema’s closed,’ he replied, showing her the paper. ‘It seems that last week they were having a disaster film festival, using virtual-environment simulators. Apparently, someone set the dial too high when they were screening Earthquake! and, well. . . The floor caved in.’ He Sighed. ‘Still. Better that than The Towering Inferno.’
She turned and walked back the way they had come, back toward the TARDIS. ‘It’s OK. Never mind.’ It was odd; after all, it wasn’t as if they were talking about anything serious, right? It was just a movie, 9
wasn’t it? And yet Martha felt cheerless, as if something as simple as being able to watch some creaky old Wild West film was the only way she could